Infinera Helps Double Subsea Network Capacity

Asia-Africa-Europe-1 Consortium uses ICE4 technology to boost capacity on network connecting East Asia to Europe via Egypt

Asia-Africa-Europe-1 Consortium (AAE-1), one of the largest consortium cable systems, has recently completed a significant upgrade with Infinera to boost capacity on its subsea network connecting East Asia to Europe via Egypt.

AAE-1 has proved to be vital infrastructure in the Eurasia corridor, and even more so recently, providing connectivity, diversity, and resilience between European, Asian, and Middle Eastern markets. Based on Infinera's fourth-generation Infinite Capacity Engine (ICE4) technology and Instant Bandwidth capability, the Infinera solution enabled AAE-1 to double the capacity on its intercontinental network while reducing total cost of ownership and increasing service agility and network reliability.

AAE-1's cable system spans 25,000km of subsea and terrestrial network. Unlike any other cable system in the world, AAE-1 terminates at two points of presence in Singapore and is claimed to be the only next-generation cable that continues further into Asia through diverse terrestrial routes across Thailand, providing connectivity to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Hong Kong. This routing enables AAE-1 to deliver a low-latency routes between Hong Kong, India, the Middle East, and Europe.

“AAE-1 is an important subsea cable asset for carriers globally, with bandwidth needs growing rapidly, particularly during this very difficult and deeply sad global crisis. After a rigorous evaluation, we selected Infinera for its superior reach, optical transmission performance, and reliability,” explained Loucas Balis, chairman, AAE-1 Management Committee.

“When selecting a solution for AAE-1, it was critical to select a vendor with a seamless scalable solution for the entire network, with great economics,” Giuseppe Sini, vice chairman, AAE-1 Management Committee added. “Infinera gave AAE-1 the ability to activate capacity quickly and really differentiate our services. Infinera has been an excellent choice.”

“We are pleased to support AAE-1's network upgrade, delivering the benefits of Infinera's photonic integrated circuit-based ICE4 solution, featuring industry-leading spectral efficiency, Nyquist subcarriers, SD-FEC gain sharing, and Smart Optimise. The deployed solution also delivered extended C-band open line system terrestrial crossings that are expandable in-service to L-band,” said Nick Walden, SVP, Worldwide Sales at Infinera. “By deploying Infinera's subsea solution, AAE-1 is set up for success now and into the future, with pioneering technology to tackle next-generation services, including Instant Bandwidth functionality that enables unlocking additional network capacity through remote activation.”